Zim bank chief plans currency reform

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s bank chief plans new currency reforms – removing “more zeros” from the plummeting Zimbabwe dollar and raising the limit on cash withdrawals – to tackle the country’s runaway inflation and cash shortages, state media reported yesterday.

Previous currency reforms have failed to tame Zimbabwe’s inflation – officially pegged at 2,2 million per cent a year but estimated by independent analysts to be closer to 12,5 million per cent. It also has become virtually impossible to get access to cash as the country’s economic collapse worsens.Authorities last week released a new 100 billion dollar bank note – at the time enough to buy just one loaf of bread, but now worth even less.The Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, reported that central bank reserve governor Gideon Gono told an agricultural show Saturday he would introduce the new measures in the coming days to make sure cash shortages are a “thing of the past.”Zimbabwe’s government says western sanctions – tightened last week – are mainly to blame.Critics blame mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe’s government and a land-reform programme that sharply reduced the country’s agricultural production.To improve liquidity on the market, Gono was going to remove “more zeros,” the paper reported.”This time, we will make sure that those zeros that would come knocking on the Governor’s (Dr Gono’s) window will not return.They are going for good,” Gono was quoted as saying.Nampa-APIt also has become virtually impossible to get access to cash as the country’s economic collapse worsens.Authorities last week released a new 100 billion dollar bank note – at the time enough to buy just one loaf of bread, but now worth even less.The Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, reported that central bank reserve governor Gideon Gono told an agricultural show Saturday he would introduce the new measures in the coming days to make sure cash shortages are a “thing of the past.”Zimbabwe’s government says western sanctions – tightened last week – are mainly to blame.Critics blame mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe’s government and a land-reform programme that sharply reduced the country’s agricultural production.To improve liquidity on the market, Gono was going to remove “more zeros,” the paper reported.”This time, we will make sure that those zeros that would come knocking on the Governor’s (Dr Gono’s) window will not return.They are going for good,” Gono was quoted as saying.Nampa-AP